Hearing or having a conversation in noise is notoriously difficult for hearing aid users – and for many normal-hearing people. According to MarkeTrak, it’s the situation with the lowest satisfaction for hearing aid users. That’s why it’s so crucial that hearing aids really perform well in noisy situations.

In our survey, we’ve looked at performance in noisy situations. It turns out that users prefer EVOKE across a range of situations where noise is an important issue – like conversations in noise, conversations during transport and in noisy streets.

What drives the improved satisfaction?

That would be Fluid Sound Technology and SoundSense Learn.

Fluid Sound Technology is an automatic system that identifies every sound situation the listener is in and then adjusts to it. And when people want to personalize their sound in specific situations, they can use SoundSense Learn. SoundSense Learn is a fine-tuning interface driven by machine learning that allows users to create and save their preferred settings for any given listening situation.

Fluid Sound Technology automatically makes changes in sound seamless

There are several environment-specific sound classes in Fluid Sound Technology, all designed to automatically deliver the best sound in different situations. For instance, the sound classes for noisy environments are designed to accentuate speech and reduce listening effort.

But, even with the best automation, sometimes hearing aids can’t match the person’s listening intention in that specific moment or situation.

That’s why many hearing aids over the years have offered user controls to change hearing or sound settings in real time. The problem is that these controls haven’t helped users make meaningful improvements. Simply because they were complex to use.

SoundSense Learn is a control too

− but one that’s powerful and easy to use.

The user simply provides the input via the intuitive app interface. SoundSense Learn then uses its live machine learning algorithm to deliver the optimal sound in that moment. That way users don’t have to deal with adjusting several parameters. Plus, they can save the settings as a specific program they can use later in the same situation.

Here’s what users think about SoundSense Learn

Users access SoundSense Learn via the WIDEX EVOKE app. To use it, you would have to be a regular smartphone user – that’s why we would not expect all users to use it.

Also, because EVOKE delivers outstanding automatization, some users may not feel inclined to use SoundSense Learn. The sound could already be as they want it.

A little over half of the participants in the survey used SoundSense Learn, and 76% of those who did said it helped them improve a listening situation. Also, 82% would recommend it to others:

So, the preliminary results confirm the good things we’ve been hearing. They also reflect a successful balance between hearing aid automation and personalization.

While we’re still keen on making the most automatic hearing device possible, there will always be situations where the user’s listening intention is not met. And in those situations, you need powerful and effective personalization that works for the user, in the moment.